


Martyr

by cORGISS



Category: The Walking Dead (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Hypothermia, Nuke if you squint, Spoilers, Walkers (Walking Dead), also AJ mention, frozen lakes?, rebecca mention, that's p much it, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-18 14:51:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2352296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cORGISS/pseuds/cORGISS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's not sure he believes in God or Heaven after all that's happened in the past few years, but Christ above, does he want to believe, as he feels the life slowly slipping from his body. Luke's thoughts at the lake. SPOILERS FOR TWDG SEASON 2 EPISODES 4&5</p>
            </blockquote>





	Martyr

Cold temperatures and terror, he's found, are quite the powerful duo when mashed together the way they have been the past few days. He discovered so first when Rebecca froze to death cradling her baby, what seems like weeks ago but had only been the evening prior. Clementine's shot had rung out in the air, and although its resonance had caused unwanted attention from both the living and the dead, Luke is glad that she had had the courage to do it. The loss of AJ would have more than likely sent Kenny over the edge that he is teetering ever so carefully on. 'She'll be a good big sister,' he remembers thinking after the shoot off with Arvo's group.

He finds the terrifying combination even more brutal when his leg breaks through the ice that he currently stands on whilst heading to the building that can just barely be passed off as 'safety.'

He finds it even worse yet when Clementine inches her way over to him to help, the ice crackling and chipping under her wight. Once she is about a foot away from him, their combined weight is too much for the thin sheen of ice and it breaks, sending the both of them to what is more than likely their bitter, watery graves.

All he can see for a moment or two is a blurry cloud of bubbles and the occasional flash of blue, courtesy of Clementine's jacket. Once he's ceased flailing and the water clears, he looks about to find the little girl struggling with a lurker that he assumes must have fallen into the water with them. He can already feel hypothermia setting in, but he'll be damned if he lets a kid (especially that particular kid) die while he's still at least moderately capable of helping. 

He swims to her as quickly as he can with a bullet hole in his leg and quickly freezing limbs and pries the walker from her without a large amount of difficulty. He takes the girl by the waist and flings her up towards the opening in the ice, though his momentum is slowed by the heavy cold of the water. He starts to swim up after her, although after a moment it becomes clear to him that he is, in fact, only moving farther from Clem and the break. He looks down so fast that he's sure he'd have gotten whiplash had he been on land, a sharp bite of panic shooting its way through his system as he sees himself being pulled down, down into the depths of the lake by the walker he had torn away from Clementine. 

He doesn't want to die--he's too far in the game, now. He has too much unfinished business, too many apologies he needs to give, too many things to be thankful for. He's not quite sure why he had never found the time for these things when he _wasn't_ about to die, because now that he _is_ , they seem like the most important things in the world.

He's glad, though, that if he has to die, he'll die having saved Clem for another day. Of all the people that he's met in this mess of a world, she deserves death the least. 

He can settle for that, he supposes. He thinks of Nick, of Sarah, the rest of their former group... his family. He's not sure he believes in God or Heaven after all that's happened in the past few years, but Christ above, does he want to believe, as he feels the life slowly slipping from his body. He imagines his reunion with the others after he passes on, imagines Nick's snarky quip about how Luke's last act had been to save a child. "Of course," he'd say, voice dripping with sarcasm, "Of course you would have died for that little girl, jackass." And then that sarcasm would leave his voice and the sneer would slowly be replaced with a warm smile and Nick would embrace him, telling him how much he'd been missed. He allows himself a small smile at the thought, finally ceasing in his movements and instead taking in a deep breath, willing himself not to cough or choke on the water that floods his lungs.

Yeah, he thinks as his conscious starts to fade, of course I would have died saving Clem. What other way is there to go than to die protecting the people you love?

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this when I was half asleep and still sad about Luke. AKA 12 hours ago. Not too amazing but I haven't seen enough sad Luke fics so. Adding fuel to the flame that is the fandom's anger about Luke's death.


End file.
